Akira Hayama/Relationships
}} Family Jun Shiomi Jun is Akira's legal guardian who met him by chance when she was nearly conned by a shady marketplace man into buying low grade spice blends. Akira has a better understanding of spices and is much more responsible maintaining her spice seminar room despite the age difference. He is not shy to scold her when she is irresponsible and at times it seems more like he is the adult and Jun is the child. Despite this, Akira cherishes Jun for rescuing him and giving him the opportunity to be where he is. His main motivations to cook are centered around Jun, refusing a lucrative job at the Haubi Food Cooperation solely because he only wants to work for Jun. Tōtsuki Culinary Academy: Allies and Rivals Sōma Yukihira Soma was Tōtsuki's only transfer student, who was known for his daring yet uncanny attitude. Akira recognized Sōma from his infamous speech and his 11th hour Breakfast Buffet Challenge. Akira belittled Sōma as he deemed Soma's performance was not good enough for the ultimate praise because of his theory about the aroma of food. However, never Akira expected that would Sōma not only boldly accept his challenge, but also see him as an interesting student to befriend with. Both of them presented their dish in the Preliminary Rounds of the Autumn Elections. Akira's dish scored 94 points, while Sōma's scored 93 points. Despite winning by one point, Akira saw the result as a hollow victory as 3 of the 5 judges gave Soma's dish a higher score. Sōma, along with Ryo were his opponents in the finals of the Autumn Elections. Akira won the finals, making him the only person to defeat Sōma aside from Soma's own father, Jōichirō. Hisako Arato Akira's first opponent for the Autumn Election Main Tournament was Hisako. Both he and Hisako shared their professionalism in food forte, especially in spices and herbs. As a route for the Tōtsuki top, Akira was planning to replace Erina as the Elite Ten Council member, much to Hisako's scorn. After defeating Hisako in a hamburger match, Akira criticized Hisako for her lack of ambition and limited vision of the culinary world, as well her loyalty towards Erina which he deemed her as Erina's "No.2". Ryō Kurokiba Akira's second opponent for the Autumn Election Main Tournament (Semifinals) was Ryō. He is the first person since the beginning of the series that made Hayama feel threatened hence making him use his full strength. That including his tie in the semifinals and Ryō belittle his cooking only added fuel to his rivalry between them making the two the main attraction of the three-way final. In the final, Ryō used an aroma bomb along side his fresh pacific saury in order to beat Akira's aromas however Hayama used a more focused aroma alongside his fresh flavor pacific saury. Although the battle was very even between Hayama, Ryō and Sōma at the end the judges chosen Akira as the winner because his dish was more of a specialty. Till the present they still have some rivalry left however now their relationship is more friendly and in some occasions have been seen hanging together for different reasons. Alice Nakiri After deceiving Jun into giving approval to Alice and Ryo to allow them to use the Shiomi Seminar's booth for the Moon Banquet Festival, Hayama was forced to participate with them despite his reluctance, forming what Alice dubs the 'White Coat Trio'. Due to Alice's poor decision making for the booth, they continued to suffer losses, leading to Hayama often arguing with Alice. However the Shiomi Seminar was able to turn a profit in the end as Alice managed to come up with a dish that includes colorful chocolate patterns, which enhanced the curry dishes they were offering. This managed to entice the customers, and Akira himself was also impressed by Alice's ingenuity. Megumi Tadokoro He first met her when she and Sōma came to visit the Shiomi Seminar to ask for help for the Autumn Election Preliminiars. Akira showed her and Sōma how slight alterations in the cooking and preparing of spices can have a great impact on the final result. She was left impressed by his dishes. Category:Relationships